Over the last decade the importance of glycoproteins at the cell surface has become increasingly evident. The role of surface heterosaccharides in cell interaction phenomena will be discussed in terms of those macromolecules providing the cell with a recognition surface; the carbohydrate groups of membrane glycoproteins may be expected to provide considerable variation in surface structure, with great economy of means, commensurate with the large number of specific interactions which take place at the cell periphery. Evidence for surface glycoproteins being involved in cell adhesion will be briefly reviewed. That adhesive specificity might be incorporated into the arrangement of sugar residues within the carbohydrate groups of surface heterosaccharides which are recognized by an appropriate glycosyltransferase on the surface of apposing cells, with the formation of mutable adhesions will be detailed by reference to recent experimental evidence, obtained with malignant rat dermal fibroblasts. In this type of work the use of exogenous glycoproteins as model compounds has proved useful, however, the need to isolate endogenous membrane glycoprotein acceptors is evident and the results of current work in this area will be described.
The catalytic reforming of bio-ethanol over SiO2 supported ZnO catalysts: The role of ZnO loading and the steam reforming of acetaldehyde